When creating reports with Facebook Ads that include unique metrics paired with date dimensions, Power My Analytics automatically uses cached data instead of live data. This article explains this behavior, what it means for your Facebook Ads reports, and best practices for working with these data combinations.

Understanding Cached vs. Live Data in Facebook Ads

When working with metrics in Power My Analytics, you'll encounter two types of data retrieval:

1. Live Data: Data that's retrieved directly from the source platform in real-time
2. Cached Data: Pre-collected data warehoused in our system for faster access

When Does PMA Use Cached Data in Facebook Ads?

When a unique metric is paired with the date dimension in a Facebook Ads report, this will result in a request for cached data instead of a request for live data. For this reason, only cached data will appear in a report or chart that pairs a unique field with the date dimension.

What Are Unique Metrics?

Unique metrics in Power My Analytics typically refer to specialized data points that track distinct entities or actions, such as:

• Unique visitors
• Unique user IDs
• Unique conversion events
• Unique session counts
• Other metrics with "unique" qualifiers
  

Due to changes in Meta's Facebook Ads API, the following unique fields have limitations on how far back historical data can be retrieved via API requests:

Field	Historical Data Limitation
Fields starting with unique_actions	13 months
Fields starting with cost_per_unique_action_type	13 months

These limitations apply to new API calls only. If the data has already been cached in Power My Analytics' database through previous data syncs, PMA can provide historical data beyond these limitations.

What This Means for Your Reports

When using unique metrics with date dimensions, the data in your reports will reflect the most recent cached data, not real-time information. This is important to consider when analyzing time-sensitive metrics.